Another One Bites the Dust
by FireEMT86
Summary: Driving to shift one morning, Severide was struck with diaster. Can the station get to him in time? Will they be able to help him through the chaos?
1. Chapter 1

It was a quite summer Chicago morning. Kelly Severirde had already gone and done his morning run and returned home to find that his roommate Shay had already and gone to the station for their shift that day. He showered and got dressed; grabbing his overnight bag he headed to his car. Getting into the black sleek car he pulled onto the busy street and headed towards Station 51. Turning on his radio he started jamming out to Queen "Another One Bites the Dust." He was only about 3 blocks away from the intersection, Kelly had a green light and preceded through the intersection, he never heard the honking horn of the 18 wheeler bellowing towards him.

Matt Casey was running late, his mother's case worker had stopped by and needed to talk to them both, making Matt run late. He was already flabbergasted because of that and now he was stuck in traffic, just 3 blocks from the station. He picked up his cell phone and called the station explaining the situation, when he heard the town go off, for a traffic accident just up the street, Matt asked Chief to grab his gear. He put his truck in park and ran up to the intersection.

People were screaming and he realized that the eighteen wheeler was on fire, and it was pretty close to a black sedan. He squinted his eyes trying to make out any other detail, when a bloody scream broke him from his trans.

"MY BABY! SOMEONE HELP MY BABY!" A mother in hysterics was holding a female child not older than 4-5 years old. The child was bleeding from a severe head wound.

"Give her too me, I'm a fire lieutenant with Station 51, my guys will be here any minute," he tried to comfort the mother. He turned his head when he heard the sirens grow closer to the horrific scene, "see they are here."

The mother reluctantly handed the girl to the blond hair man, he ran towards the ambulance. She followed closely behind, "Shay, Dawson, she has a severe head would. Take her, there are others." He handed the little girl to Dawson and turned to get his gear on. "Chief, I need Hadley, Mouch and Capp to help with extrication of a vehicle under the trailer of the truck."

"Casey, Kelly never showed up to his shift," Boden and Casey both stopped in their tracks, "Chief the car…" Casey turned and took off in a sprint, hollering for Capp, Hadley and Mouch to help him.

Coming up to the car, he bent down at the passenger side and peered inside. The left side of the car was inaccessible and any extrication would have to be done either through the back or the right side. "Severide?" He listened for a reply, "Capp give me your light." He shined the flashlight into the vehicle only to gasp at the sight in front of him.

Kelly Severide was bent over the steering wheel, blood running down his face. His legs could not be seen because of the dash and steering column. He was motionless, pale and pinned. Casey shook the thought of losing his fellow lieutenant. He turned back, "Mouch…Hadley…need the jaws, bring Shay or Dawson back with neck brace. We need to get Kelly out now."

"Kelly? Severide?" Mouch asked in shock. Casey shook his head and turned his attention back to the mangled car. Peering inside again, he meticulously watched for any sign Kelly was still alive. Relieved when he saw a slight rise and fall of the chest.


	2. Chapter 2

"Here ya go Lieutenant," Hermann said walking back up to the car with the necessary tools to start extrication. Behind him Dawson walked up carrying her bag of needed supplies.

"Dawson he's wedged in there, get it and assess him while we get things ready out here," Casey told Dawson and with that Dawson climbed into the small crushed car. She reached up to Severide's neck and felt for a pulse, it was rapid and weak, he was going into shock.

"Matt? We need to get him outta here now, he's not gonna last 20 mins in here," Dawson said loudly and very concerned.

"Ok Dawson give is 10," after turning back to his crew and discussed how they were going to do this. Within a few moments they began cutting apart Kelly's pride and joy. Inside the cramped space, Dawson worked on getting a C-Collar on Kelly and started to set up an IV line with a blood pump attached, he was going to need it at the hospital. Sticking the needle in Kelly's forearm, a groan escaped from the trapped lieutenant. He began to move his head, "Kelly, don't move. Don't move you need the IV." Dawson grabbed his hand and soothed him. She saw his eyes flutter open. She immediately saw that one pupil was larger than the other, which means he defiantly had a head injury.

"Kelly, do you know what happened?"

"Urgh! Daw…son…hurts…to…breathe," Kelly gasped through his bloody lips, "my abdomen….kill…ing…me." He managed to breathe out before relaxing into unconsciousness again.

"I NEED SHAY NOW!" Dawson screamed as she rechecked his vital signs again only to find that is pulse was low, blood pressure low and his oxygen saturation very low.

"Shay, I need you over at the car, Dawson needs help," Casey released the button on the radio as he continued cutting the car away from his trapped friend.

Shay jogged up to the vehicle and Casey motioned her to the front of the vehicle, "Shay, it's Kelly."

Shay took in a shaky breath and focused on helping her friend, "Dawson what you need?"

"I need to set up another line and then we need to push the fluids, he complained that it was hard to breathe and his abdomen hurt too," Dawson adjusted to start the line in the other arm.

After that line was established they both squeezed their IV bags giving him as much fluid as possible, noticing that his blood pressure did raise a little bit, "Casey? How much longer?" Shay asked.

"5 minutes…"Casey said not stopping his work.

"Make it a fast 5 minutes…make sure the backboard and cot are ready for us," as she moved back into the car. "5 minutes Dawson," looking at the eyes of Dawson.

Dawson nodded her head and continued monitoring her co-worker, until her train of thought was broken, "we are getting ready to peel the roof, then it'll be just a few moments to roll the dash, then we can get him out." Casey called signaling for his crew to peel the roof.

After the roof was peeled they began setting up for the dash roll. Just as they were getting ready to roll it Dawson stopped them, "WAIT! There is a lot of blood pooling."

Casey's eyes widened, "Dawson talk to me, what is it?"

"His femoral artery has been cut; the dash is keeping pressure on it. We need a field surgeon," Dawson told Casey.

"Boden from Casey…" Casey grabbing his radio.

"Go ahead Casey…"

"Call Lakeshore and get a field surgeon en route, we have a possible cut femoral artery," Casey let go of the button and hung his head.

Within a few minutes his radio cracked to life, "Casey from Boden…ETA on field surgeon is 5-10 minutes."

"Dawson, 5-10 minutes," Casey said peering into the car.

"Matt, he doesn't have that. I am gonna have to clamp it and go," Dawson said moving for her bag, "on my signal roll the dash and have people ready to help us get him out."

Dawson breathed a sigh, looked at her partner, "just do it!" Shay coached.

Dawson took a few tries and finally got the artery clamped, "OK MATT! LET'S GO!"

With that the men of Station 51 rolled the dash, hopping a clamp was enough to save the young lieutenant.


	3. Chapter 3

With Dawson's go, Matt started the rolling of the dash. The dash being half way rolled, a yelp escaped from Kelly. Matt groaned knowing he needed to keep going so Kelly had a chance of surviving. Once the dash was completely rolled, hands grabbed Kelly and got him onto the backboard and onto the cot. Getting him into the ambulance, Dawson jumped in the back with Kelly and Shay in the driver's seat, took off to Lakeshore with Kelly holding on by just a thread.

"32 year old firefighter, trapped in a vehicle, head injury and severed femoral artery. I clamped it. Have to large bore IVs with blood pumps in, he gained consciousness only for a few minutes, he said that his abdomen hurt and it was hard to breathe," Dawson gave a report to the intake ER doctor.

"Why didn't you wait for the field surgeon?" The doctor stopped her.

"I didn't think there was time," Dawson's jaw dropped at the doctor's question.

"You not waiting for that surgeon probably cost this man his leg," with that statement, the doctor went back to the room and closed the curtain.

"Dawson, it was a judgment call, don't beat yourself up over it," Shay grabbed her shoulder.

"Yeah, but now Kelly may never walk again," she turned to leave.

Shay watched her walk out the doors, wishing she could do more for her friend. She finished the paperwork and was startled by Lt. Casey, "hey, how is he?"

"Umm, I don't know much. He lost a lot of blood, the doctor is looking over him now," Shay said motioning to the closed curtain.

Casey hung his head only to shoot it back up when a scrub clad doctor walked over to where they were, "You here for Lt. Severide?"

Casey shook his head and grabbed Shay's hand.

"Lt. Severide needs to go to surgery now. His femoral artery is pretty bad. He's been without blood flow to that left leg for quite some time. We may have to amputate, but won't know for sure. He also has a severe head injury and ruptured spleen, both we will do while he is in the OR," the doctor looked into the eyes of the paramedic and lieutenant.

"Thank you, doctor," Casey smiled and nodded his head, while the doctor turned. He opened the curtain and the nurses rushed the bed that Kelly Severide lay motionless on, a tube in his throat to help him breath. Casey let out a shaky breath and turned to look at Shay, who was looking a little peeked. "Shay he's gonna be fine."

Shay looked up and smiled, "Dawson, she went outside. I need to let her know."

"No, I will go, which way did she go?" Shay pointed out the ambulance entrance door.

Matt left in the direction that Shay pointed out, "hey, how you doing Dawson?" Matt asked coming around the corner and saw she was sitting down up against the cold cement wall. He sank down next to her and wrapped her in his arms, she shivered and continued to cry, "Gabby, Kelly's in surgery right now. He's pretty banged up. He has a severe head injury, ruptured spleen."

"Matt what are you not telling me?" Dawson looked up into the blue eyes of her best friend.

"Oh Gabby, Kelly went to long without blood flow to his leg, they may have to take it," Casey hung his head low.

"Oh god, it's my fault…I should've waited for the surgeon," Gabby started to panic.

"Dawson! Calm down, you did what you needed to do. Don't blame yourself, Kelly will be fine," Matt grabbed her again and soothed her with his voice. They both shivered and decided to head back inside and wait with the others.

They settled in next to Mouch who was reading the daily newspaper. It was going to a long wait ahead of all of them.


	4. Chapter 4

Dawson moved closer to Matt and laid her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her and squeezed. Within minutes she was fast asleep. Casey looked down and smiled and then looked around the room, most of the guys dozed off. He chuckled at Mouch who had made a makeshift recliner and was kicked back snoring lightly. Vargas and Capp were conversing in a conversation; Shay was staring out the window. Otis, Hermann, Mills and Cruz were playing a friendly game of poker and Boden was leaning against the wall watching diligently down the hall at the doors that led to the operating room.

Casey glanced at his watch, "_damn 1700…it's been hours since the accident."_ He glanced back up at the chief and smiled, let out a sigh and jumped at the OR doors opening. In walked a scrub clad doctor, "Kelly Severide?"

Casey jumped up and almost knocked Dawson out of her chair; he walked over and stood beside his chief. The doctor smiled, "Mr. Severide made it through the surgery, we were able to clean and suture the spleen and his head injury we were able to depressurize."

"What about his leg?" Matt asked impatiently.

The doctor again smiled, "we were able to save the leg. We had to put a new artery in but were able to get blood flow to the rest of the leg. Now I can't guarantee he will ever be able to walk normal again, let alone be a firefighter. We won't know until he walks on it and it heals. We are moving him to ICU. I will have a nurse come get you and only a few minutes of visitation please, he needs his rest," the doctor finished and shook both Matt's and the chief's hand.

The rest of the guys heard the conversation and the looks on their faces was memorable. Those who had sad faces on now had a glimpse of a smile form, knowing that Kelly Severide was alive. Dawson again looked as if she was going to cry again, "Gabby? What's wrong, he's fine."

"Yeah, but…" Gabby let a tear fall.

"Gabby! Not your fault! He has his leg!" Matt grabbed her face and spook slowly. She shook her head and wiped the tears that had formed just as the nurse came to summons them to the ICU. She asked only two at a time go in and visit for 5 minutes each. They agreed and 2 by 2 they filed into the lieutenant's room. Last to go in was Chief Boden and Casey, walking into Kelly's room, they noticed Kelly was visibly tried and in pain. He was pale and his eyes sunken into his skull; he looked like crap needless to say.

"Hey Kelly, how are you feeling," Boden asked, eyeing the lieutenant.

Kelly trying to keep his sense of humor, smiled, a little lopsided, "like I've been hit by a truck!" He winced as he tried to laugh.

Boden smiled and moved so Matt could come in, "hey buddy! You gave us quite a scare. Try not to do it again!"

Kelly smiled and closed his eyes, the cue for the two last visitors to say their goodbyes and leave. Matt stood at the door way, watching his fellow lieutenant. He didn't want to leave him by himself, but soon the nurse ushered him out and closed his door.

Walking out of the ICU, he noticed the guys had gone home. He took a moment and sat down in the chair of the waiting room, exhausted from the day's activities. He couldn't shake the image in his mind of peering inside the car and seeing his best friend trapped and helpless.


	5. Chapter 5

Matt sat in the ICU waiting room, until his back began to ache. He got up and stretched and wondered down the hall and back again only to be drawn back to the uncomfortable chairs. He looked at his watch and sighed, he still had three more hours before visiting hours were open. He rubbed his eyes, he hadn't slept for almost 36 hours and was in desperate need, but he wanted to see his friend.

When it was time for visiting hours to open, Matt was the first at the desk getting a visitors badge; he walked down the corridor and entered Kelly's room. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat but it wouldn't stay down. He moved to the bedside and saw a drain coming out of his leg. He bit back a sob and glanced at Severide's face, beside the oxygen tubing another tubed snaked its way out of the left side of the skull, seeing that Matt covered his mouth and gasped. He sat down and leaned back closing his eyes; he opened them again and noticed green eyes staring at him. Matt sat up quickly, "hey Severide, how are you feeling this morning?"

Kelly's eyes were glazed over, "where am I?" He asked confused glancing around the bare hospital room.

"Kelly, do you know what happened? You are at Lakeshore," Matt asked very concerned for the memory of his friend, just then Matt's phone went off playing "Another One Bites the Dust," he moved to quiet it. He looked back up at Kelly, "Kel…you ok?"

Kelly stared at him and began to tremble, "truck…hurt…that song…"

Matt again moved toward Kelly, "what do you mean that song?"

A smile came over Severide's face, "I was listening to that song when I was hit by that truck," he blinked his eyes and looked at Matt again, "I hate that song!"

Matt smiled thankful he was really ok in that aspect, "I promise I won't play it anymore!"

Kelly smiled and moved his head and winced, "careful, you have a drain tube in there." Matt moved to help his friend.

"What the hell did they all do to me?" Kelly asked.

"Well let's see. You had a ruptured spleen so that fixed that. A severe head injury, that is why you have that drain, they had to depressurize it and your femoral artery was cut, they thought they were going to have to take it, but they didn't," Matt explained, eyeing his friend in case he decided he was going to be sick.

Kelly stared at him, "damn! I'm a mess!" Careful this time, he eased his head back.

Matt smiled, "you're in pain, I will get a nurse," he said getting out the chair and finding a nurse. He came back a few minutes late with a young nurse, caring a needle.

"Mr. Severide, here is your pain meds. CAT SCAN will be up shortly to take you for a scan. What is your pain scale?" She asked moving to put the medication in his IV.

"Not too bad, maybe a 4," Kelly smiled, trying to act macho, only he and Matt knew he was trying to impress the young women.

She smiled, "call if you need anything."

"Damn, is it me or is it harder to get a woman these days?" Kelly joked.

Matt smiled and chuckled with him and watched as the pain medication began to takes its toll on the young lieutenant. Matt got up and made his way home to shower and get some sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

During the night Kelly started to shiver, he called requesting more blankets and to turn up the heat. After about the third call the nurse became concerned and took in a thermometer, she coaxed it under Severide's tongue. She waited for a few minutes and did his vital signs, until it beeped. "Oh my! Mr. Severide, how are you feeling?"

Kelly blinked his eyes, tears threatening to fall, "I'm alright."

The nurse smiled, "I will be right back." She left to call the doctor and to report Kelly Severide's signs and symptoms, all this pointing him having an infection somewhere. As soon as the nurse walked back in with a needle and syringe she inserted it into the IV line. She noticed Kelly was getting restless and tried to get up. She tried to sooth him back into bed, but he became violent and pushed her back against the door, "I need help!" She screamed. Kelly swung his legs over the side of the bed and went to stand, he then got dizzy and then he realized he was stepping onto the leg that just had surgery. A pain washed over him and he slid to the floor.

A doctor and nurse eased him back into bed and the doctor looked him over, he started with a neuro exam and then moved down his body. When he got to the leg, he stopped, he noted that there were red streaks coming from the center of the wound and it was massively swollen. He started Kelly on some very high antibiotics, hoping everything combined would start to work and take care of the lieutenant.

By the next morning Kelly had no changes and seemed to be incoherent to anything around him. Again the nurse called the doctor. Minutes before the doctor came in; Matt Casey strolled in and was stunned to see the sight in front of him.

"What's going on?" He asked moving to Kelly's bedside.

"He's sepsis. We are doing everything we can," the doctor moved in and began to exam his leg again, which was a lot more red and swollen than last night.

Matt looked up and down Kelly's still figure and noticed he was breathing with a lot of effort, he was sweating like crazy and his heart rate was high, close to the danger zone. He sat down next to the bed and sighed holding his head in his hands and said a silent prayer for his fallen friend. Just as he finished his cell phone rang, playing "Another One Bites the Dust" again, he frantically found it to see it was his mother calling. Hitting the decline button he looked up to see Kelly staring at him, "what….have…I told… you…about…that…song?" He gasped out clutching his chest and sucking in the oxygen from the non-rebreather mask provided. Matt patted his hand and laughed, "Sorry partner." Kelly nodded his head a concentrated on breathing.

Matt sat back in his chair and closed his eyes once again prayed. He woke sometime later to a buzzing in his pocket, looking at the caller saw it was Shay, Kelly's roommate. He got up and walked out before answering the phone, "hello?"

"_Hey! Matt how is he?"_ Shay asked.

"Not to good, Shay. He's sepsis, from his leg, it's bad," Matt shuddered at the thought.

"_Okay, do you need me to come sit with him?_" She asked.

"No, no I am good. Maybe come in the morning. Tomorrow I gotta go see my mom, but he needs someone here," Matt said. After a few moments he hung up the phone and walked back in and saw that Kelly was awake again and was wheezing significantly. He turned to get a nurse, he knew that the situation with Kelly was going from bad to worse and something needed to be done soon or the great Lieutenant Kelly Severide would meet his demise.


	7. Chapter 7

Matt was very worried about is friend as he watched him take slow, deep breaths. Kelly would cough after 2 breaths and again suck in oxygen, at least attempt too. Kelly struggled more and more and that's when Matt got up and went and found the doctor, "he's not doing so hot. He is working really hard to breath. Can't you do something?"

"Well, I could but a tube in, and let him rest for a few days and see how that does," the doctor scratched his head and sighed, looking at the younger man.

Matt shook his head and turned to go back to Kelly's room, "hey. I talked to the doc and he said that they could but a tube in and put you on a machine, let you heal."

Kelly just shook his head in agreement, knowing that was the best option right now. Matt smiled and grabbed his hand, letting Kelly know he was there for him. He only took a few minutes for the doctor and a team of nurses to come in and excuse Matt from the room so they could insert the tube. Matt waited outside the door and anxiously waited to return to his comrade's side. Twenty minutes passed and the team came out and nodded at Matt that it was ok to go in, "he is sedated, the machine is breathing for him. The infection is about the same. We will watch him through the night."

Matt smiled, his lips quivered at the news as he went back into the dimly lit hospital room. The eerie sound of the machine doing its job gave him the creeps. He surveyed the weak body of Kelly Severide, knowing that this could be the end. He positioned himself in the uncomfortable chair and closed his eyes, hoping to find solace behind his eyelids. He woke sometime later and saw that nothing had changed except a new IV fluid bag and antibiotics had been hung sometime during the night. He searched his pockets for his phone and found numerous missed calls and text messages from Shay.

Before he could rub the fuzziness from his eyes, the blonde hair roommate walked in, "Matt? Is everything…" She stopped mid-sentence, "oh my god, Kelly."

"Shay, I'm sorry I meant to call. It's been a little crazy," Matt stood and told Shay everything, tears in her eyes.

She shook her head and wiped the tears when Matt finished his explanation, "its ok Matt. I understand. Thank you for being here for him, I know that's what he would want." She got up and gave Matt a hug.

Shay and Matt sat by Severide's side for minutes and those minutes turned into hours and those hours turned into days. Matt would hope that Kelly would wake up and start breathing on his own again, but every time they tried he would struggle and they would but him right back on. It would though Shay into a downward spiral and that prompted Matt to call Dawson to come get Shay.

"Alright, Kelly…I'm only going to say this once. You need to wake your ass up and get better. Shay needs you, I need you…we all need you," Matt said lecturing the unconscious lieutenant.

About a week after Kelly was put on the breathing machine, Kelly's blood work started to show improvement and they attempted to take him off of the ventilator. They removed the tube and all seemed well, until they tried to counter act the sedative. Green eyes fluttered and a groan came from the lips of the weakened man. Matt jumped up, "hey bud. Calm down."

"Ma...tt?" Kelly asked weakly.

"Yeah, Kel. It's me, how are you feeling?"

Kelly licked his lips and looked at his friend, "hurts…"

"Yeah you've been on a ventilator for the past week; a severe infection put you there."

Kelly groaned again and laid his head back. Matt could tell he was remembering everything, "the nurse, she ok?" Kelly asked remembering he had pushed the nurse.

Matt smiled and shook his head, "she's fine. Worried about you."

Kelly smiled and closed his eyes and let sleep take him over once again. Matt was by his side the rest of the evening, happy Kelly was 10 times better than a week ago.

The next morning, Kelly woke to find that Matt was gone, remembering that he had told Kelly that he was on shift the next day. Kelly smacked his lips and searched for a glass of water or ice chips, something to moisten his lips; he found a fresh cup of ice chips and grabbed it.

Matt arrived at the station and they were immediately called out to a structure fire. Matt and Capp, acting lieutenant for the squad were headed in for search and rescue; they were headed out when the floor above them collapsed on Matt, "lieutenant?" Capp called out while removing debris. Once he found the motionless body of Matt, he pulled him out and took him to Shay and Dawson.

"I'm fine, really, I'm fine," Matt struggled to sit up, wincing. Blood dripped down the side of his head from a cut and his left arm deformed.

"You may be fine, but you are still going to Lakeshore tough guy. You need stitches and that arm needs set," Dawson explained while caring for the wound to his head.

Arriving at the ER doors they wheeled him and took him to trauma. They cleaned and sutured his head wound, 12 stitches to that and set his arm, "I'd like to keep him overnight for observation."

"Under one condition!" Matt looked at the doctor, woozy from the pain meds, "my friend Kelly Severide is upstairs."

"We can rearrange for you two to be roommates for the evening," the doctor smiled and left to make the call upstairs.

"Mr. Severide, you are getting a roommate for the evening," Kelly's nurse came in and started getting the other side of the room ready.

Fifth teen minutes later a bed was wheeled in and hooked up to the monitors. Kelly straining to see who his roommate was. After the doctors left Kelly sat up a little further and gasped at his new roommate, "Matt? What the hell happened to you?"

Matt opened one of his eyes and looked at Kelly, "kinda got hit by a building." He smiled and chuckled, closed his eye and fell into a slumber.

Kelly sighed and leaned his own head back and glanced at the time and closed his eyes and let sleep take over him as well.


	8. Chapter 8

Matt woke up during the night to the throbbing in his arm, it had been broken in two places and they had reset it and casted it. He winced as he moved to get into a more comfortable position. He moved to sit up and his head throbbed and he laid back down. Glancing over at his sleeping roommate he remembered that he was much better off than his friend. He closed his eyes again. Awake again a few hours later, Matt pressed the button for the nurse, he desperately needed pain meds and to use the bathroom. He waited for a while and went to push the button again, when he heard Kelly chuckle, "I wouldn't. They are so slow in the mornings."

"I really gotta go!" Matt whined and moved to get up, as soon as his nurse came in.

"Mr. Casey, where do you think you are going?" She smiled and moved to help the hurt man to the bathroom.

After a few short minutes they came out and she eased Matt back onto the bed, "be right back with pain meds for both of you and Mr. Severide, I need to change your catheter." Before Kelly could protest the nurse glided out of the room.

Matt chuckled and glanced over, "sucks to be you!"

"Ha-ha shut it! Be so happy when I can start walking again, this sucks!" Kelly griped as the nurse came back with the meds.

"Here we go, and the doctor will be in a few to check on you both, breakfast should be in also, anything else I can get you gentlemen?" She smiled after finishing up giving Kelly his meds. The lieutenants smiled and shook their heads.

They both dozed off again until the doctor came in, "Mr. Casey. Mr. Severide, how are we feeling today?" He smiled moving over to Matt's bedside.

"A little sore, but feeling pretty good," Matt smiled at the man in white, hoping he wouldn't see the pain etched across his face.

"Good, good. How is your head? Are you having nausea, dizziness, vomiting?" The doc asked as Matt shook his head, he really wanted to go home. "Well, I am not convinced; I can see it across your face Mr. Casey. I think we will keep you here one more evening and see about tomorrow. Do you have anyone that can stay with you? Someone needs to be with you for at least 48 hours to do neuro checks every 3-5 hours."

"Yeah I can arrange something," Matt said, laying back in defeat.

"Good. And Mr. Severide how are you feeling?" He moved over to Kelly's bed.

"Better than last week. Still tired and a little weak, but overall much better," Kelly responded.

"Good, everything seems to be going pretty good. We are going to continue to monitor you and see how you are by the end of the week and re-evaluate." The doc shook Kelly and Matt's hands' and left the room.

"One more night? You've got to be kidding!" Matt said disgusted.

"You need to talk, who the hell knows when I'll get outta here," Kelly smiled, hoping that would cheer up his bedside buddy.

"Yeah, true. I'd hate to be you!" Matt smiled again.

They laughed and turned their attention to their visitors that just walked through the door, Shay and Mouch walked in with balloons and a bear for each of the men and followed by them were Otis and Hermann who had flowers, "these are from the wives, not from us. Just to make that clear!" Hermann chimed and set the flowers on the bedside tables.

"Wow! Thanks guys." Both Matt and Kelly thanked.

They talked and laughed with the crews for a few hours when Kelly started to nod off and eventually he fell asleep and Matt motioned for the others to be quiet, "I think it's time we leave too. You need your beauty sleep to sunshine," Shay said moving to cover up her roommate.

Matt smiled and nodded his head, he sure was tired. They left and it wasn't long before he was in his slumber. Matt jolted awake, to a god awful sound and when he opened his eyes and looked at his roommate and found he was sitting on the edge of his bed coughing something fierce. Matt cleared his eyes and saw a dark puddle on the floor. His mind immediately went to push the nurse button. He then got up and went to sooth his friend. Moving closer to the bed he noticed it was blood that Kelly was coughing up.

"Kel? It's ok, I called the nurse just try to relax, breathe," Matt sat next to his friend and waited for the nurse to come in. He noticed that Kelly was sweating and his breathing was extremely labored. He hoped it was nothing serious. He didn't like that he was incoherent too. Shortly, a nurse came in and saw the scene before her.

"Oh dear, Mr. Severide," she moved to his side and listened to his breath sounds and immediately called for help and for the doctor who was on call. Matt was ushered back to his bed as the team of nurses worked to stabilize his friends.

"He has pneumonia, severe case of it at that, put a non-rebreather mask on and monitor every ½ hour," the doctor on call wrote the instructions down and left. A janitor came in and cleaned up the mess by Kelly's bed. The rest of the night Matt didn't sleep, not only because he was worried about his best friend but with the nurses in and out it was almost impossible.

Kelly felt miserable and tried to sit up only to be weakened by the movement and he fell back in defeat. He looked over and saw that Matt was staring at him with his blue eyes, "don't mind me, rest."

Kelly could only smile and fell back into a slumber, breathing slow and getting harder and harder.

"Mr. Casey, here are your discharge papers. You are free to go, do you have a ride or do you need me to call a cab?"

"No, I'm going to stay here, Kelly needs me," Matt moved to the chair.

"Mr. Casey please go home, you will heal much faster at home and then you can be here for your friend," the nurse explained hoping to get the young firefighter to listen.

Matt looked at her pleading eyes, knowing she was right. Home would be good and he could call Mouch or Otis or even Hermann to come stay with him. He smiled and shook his head and got up, laid his hand on Kelly's and walked out, pulling out his phone to call for a ride.


	9. Chapter 9

Matt went home but couldn't get his mind off of Kelly. He desperately wanted to go back and sit with his friend but he knew they would send him right back home. He sat down in front of his TV set and let his mind reel. He took out his phone and called the hospital, "um, yes I need to know how Kelly Severide is, please?" He asked the nurse that picked up the phone.

"Mr. Casey? Kelly is doing fine, no changes. He's resting. I will call if there are any though ok, don't worry Mr. Severide is in good hands," the nurse responded immediately recognizing the lieutenant's voice.

Matt thanked the nurse and hung up, leaning his head back and he let the tears flow, he felt horrible that he was sitting in his living room and Kelly was in the god forsaken hospital bed. He cried until his phone rang and as he looked at the caller ID his doorbell rang, "uh, just a minute," he hollered to the person at the door. He declined the incoming call from his sister and went to the front door, where Christopher Hermann stood, "hiya lieutenant heard you got to come home today and thought I'd stop and see how you were."

Matt smiled and motioned for his crewmate to come inside, "thanks Hermann, I'm good, thanks."

"Not a problem, heard about Kelly, that's rough. Is there anything we can do?" Hermann asked sitting down on the couch opposite of Matt.

Matt looked at him smiled and shook his head, "pray. Kelly needs prayers right now." He began to cry for his friend again.

Hermann was stunned; he had never seen the great Matt Casey cry before, not even when Darden died, he wasn't quite sure what to do. He scooted over to Casey's side and put an arm around him. He wasn't quite expecting for Matt to fall into his arms, so Hermann embraced him and let him cry, knowing that it might help Matt cope. After several minutes Matt leaned up and sniffled and wiped his eyes, "sorry, Chris. It's been hard."

Hermann smiled and patted his shoulder, "don't worry about it. We are here, we are family. If you need to talk let me know, ok." Matt shook his head and led Hermann to the door, "thanks for stopping Hermann."

He walked back in and saw that it was already quarter to 10 in the evening and he was exhausted. He made his way upstairs and took a shower and managed to crawl into bed thirty minutes later. He was out as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Kelly on the other hand was not having the best night, he couldn't lie down, and he couldn't sit up. He just couldn't get comfortable. He desperately wanted to go walk but with his leg and the nurses breathing down his back he knew that wasn't gonna happen. He looked at the clock and it read 2:51 am. He sighed realizing that he couldn't call anybody this early in the morning. Without thinking he began to cry uncontrollably, a nurse came in noticing that his heart rate increased, "Mr. Severide is everything ok?"

Kelly shook his head and gasped out, " Matt…" she understood and shook her head, immediately retreating to call his friend.

Ring…ring…ring… Matt rolled over grimacing from the pain that set in and fumbled to find his phone, "hello?"

"Mr. Casey, this is Nurse Ronda at Lakeshore, your friend Kelly is asking for you, would you mind coming down?" She asked biting her lip, feeling bad for waking up the recovering person.

"I'll be right down," Matt hung up his phone and set out to get dress and head down to the hospital.

He walked in to find Kelly crying and sobbing, trying to catch his breath, "Kel? Hey calm down."

Kelly looked up and smiled and calmed his sobbing down a little, "hurts…"

"I know, just relax try to sleep," Matt sat down next to the bed.

"I don't wanna…do…this anymore…" Kelly breathed.

Matt was stunned that Kelly Severide would even say something like that. His mouthed dropped and he stared at his green eyed friend, "Kelly, don't say that. You are gonna be fine, it's just another bump in the road."

Kelly shook his head, "I hate hurting, not breathing…pain…" his voice trailed off.

Matt shook his head and moved closer, making Severide look into his eyes, "I will be here for you, every god damn step of the way. You will fight and get back on your squad."

Kelly brushed him off and closed his eyes, he fell asleep with those words lingering in his mind. Matt satisfied with that sat back into the chair closed his eyes, hoping to get a few more hours of sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Feeling eyes on him, Kelly moved his head and looked into the eyes of Matt Casey. He grunted and coughed. Matt just stared at him, hoping he would be okay, "easy buddy."

Kelly finished coughing, "thanks…" he whispered as he smacked his lips and sighed.

"Here," Matt coaxed a cup of ice chips to his friend, hoping he would take it.

"I'm good," Kelly replied looking out the window.

Matt frowned and put it in arms reach of Kelly. He rubbed his eyes and stood up, "I'm going home. See ya later."

Kelly didn't acknowledge his friend as he left the room. "_Whatever, I see what kind of friend you are." _Kelly thought as he grimaced in pain.

Matt walked down the hall and was so mad he couldn't see straight, he was so aggravated with Kelly and his stubbornness. "_Damnit Severide!"_ And without thinking he slammed his fist into the brick wall. Grimacing in pain, as blood ran down his arm, "DAMNIT!" He shouted as a doctor and nurse to him, "I'm alright." He explained as they grabbed his hand and examined it.

"Let's get an x-ray and get it cleaned up," the doctor ordered the nurse as she took him to an examining room.

"Really, it's nothing," Matt tried explaining, before he was shushed by the elderly nurse.

"What's your name?" She asked cleaning the wound.

"Matt Casey, ouch!" He pulled back his hand; she immediately grabbed it back and continued.

"Mr. Casey, what were you thinking when you hit that wall?"

"Mad at a friend, who doesn't want to live anymore or help himself," he grimaced again as she finished cleaning.

She smiled, "Mr. Casey, don't dwell on others decisions. It's their choice, but you can be there for him and help him with what he needs. Now x-ray will be here any minute to take x-rays. How is your pain?"

"It's alright, not too bad," he smiled at the nurse and shook his head.

Just as she turned to leave, x-ray technicians walked in and started taking pictures. Within a few minutes the doctor came in with another nurse, "well, Mr. Casey you have a boxer's fracture. We need to splint it and get you into ortho."

Matt shook his head and let the nurse splint his hand and give him his discharge papers. He sighed and went back up to Kelly's room, "what happened to you?" Kelly asked looking at the splint.

"Punched the concrete wall downstairs," Matt sat down.

"Why?" Kelly questioned.

"Because I was pissed…at you," Matt said looking up at Kelly.

"Me? What the hell did I do?" Kelly asked his voice raising.

"You won't do shit for yourself. But I am done worrying about you. You are a big boy and I'll be there for you until the end," Matt sat up in the chair.

"Damn right I'm a big boy. My life is my life, no one is going to change that," Kelly said getting defensive.

"Just think of how Shay is going to react, or Boden. Or your crew, when we tell them you aren't coming back?" Matt tried to re-convince Kelly in his decision.

Kelly didn't respond and turned away from Matt, he hadn't thought about that and it gave him a new perspective. He closed his eyes and hoped it would all go away. He opened them to find Matt gone. He started to cry and fell asleep.

Matt walked into his dark, cold apartment and sighed. It echoed through the empty home. He threw his bag down and sat down on his couch and winced at the pain that shot through his arm. He forgot to get his prescription filled and cursed himself for that. He laid back and closed his eyes and threw his uninjured arm over his eyes and dozed off. He woke to an alarm going off, and realizing that it was the neighbor's car alarm he cursed again and got up, grimacing at the pain throughout his body. He looked at the splint and carefully started unwrapping the ace wrap that held it on.

After the splint was removed he carefully moved his fingers and knuckles and then his wrist. Pain shooting through his arm. He had shift that day and couldn't afford to miss it so he knew that he had to fight through the pain and head to work. We went upstairs and took and hot shower and got dressed and headed to work.

"Hey Matt, how are you?" Shay asked meeting him on the sidewalk by his truck, "you look exhausted?"

"Hey Shay, bad day off. But I'm good now." Matt smiled at the blond hair medic.

"What in the world did you to your hand? It looks broken," Shay asked reaching for the hand.

Matt pulled back, "just bruised it bad, no biggie."

Shay eyed him and they walked in silence into the station. As soon as they stepped into the bay the tones went off for a child in a drainage pipe. Matt sighed and rolled his eyes, as did Shay as they both went to their respected apparatuses.

Arriving on the scene, a mother came running out of her home and waving her arms. Matt was out of the truck before Cruz had it stopped, "please help me! My son is stuck in the pipes out back." She grabbed Matt pulling him.

"How long has he been stuck? What's his name?" Matt asked calmly.

"I don't know how long, I just woke up from a nap. His name is Trent, he's only 7, oh god please help him!"

"Cruz, Mouch! Get a flood light. Hermann, grab a pike pole, if he's conscious we can pull him out," Matt called going back to the yard where the mother was pulling him too.

Kneeling down and looking into the pipe, he saw the small boy about 20 feet into the pipe, "Trent? Hey Trent? Can you hear me?" Matt called hoping for a response.

"Help me," a small voice whimpered.

Matt smiled, "hold on buddy, we are gonna get you out. I'm Matt with Chicago Fire Department. Can you breathe ok?"

"It hurts too, but I can," Trent called back.

"Are you hurt? Can you move your arm?" Matt asked.

"It hurts…"Trent called barely above a whisper.

"Damnit," Matt whispered, "ok Mouch find me someone who knows if there are any power lines or anything around this pipe. We may need to dig and cut the pipe closer to him, he's too far into the pipe and he can't move."

Mouch shook his head, "copy that lieutenant."

Matt turned back in and prayed, "hand in there buddy."


	11. Chapter 11

"Lieutenant, I have a city worker on their way here, with blue prints of this lot, it's gonna take about 20 minutes," Mouch reported back with a frown on his face.

"Thanks, hey Trent buddy? How are you holding up?" Matt asked peering back down in to the pipe.

"I am getting real cold," the little boy shivered.

"Mouch! You get back on the phone and tell them I need them now, this little boy doesn't have 20 minutes," Casey yelled.

Mouch disappeared and that left Casey to survey the scene above ground, "Shay, talk to him. I need to see what is here."

Shay shook her head and moved into the opening where Casey once stood, "Trent? My name is Shay, I am a paramedic. How you doing?" She waited and waited for a response. When none came she grew concerned, "Matt! He isn't responding, we need to hurry!"

That put Matt into overdrive mode, searching for the safest way to free the young victim. He dug around above the pipe and all he encountered was rock, "Hermann! Cruz! Mills! Get me some shovels and some shoring equipment. We need to start digging! Capp, you guys be ready with the saw!" Matt barked orders hoping it would be quick and painful. His guys scattered to gather the tools and returned to Matt's side, "Hermann, Cruz, start digging here. Mills pull the dirt away from the hole and Capp have your guys help with the shoring so we don't have a cave in."

Station 51 began their work as Shay tried to rouse the youngster, "Trent, talk to me!" She shined her light down the pipe and saw that the little boy was breathing but his eyes were closed and his arm was in a weird position. "Casey? How much longer?"

Matt sighed and looked at the men's progress, "hopefully no more than 10-15 minutes." Shay shook her head and waited. Mouch reappeared, "Lieutenant? Now they are saying they can't make it."

"It's alright Mouch, we are already working," Matt chuckled looking at the men work.

Mouch smiled and jumped in to relieve one of the guys. Casey became distracted when his cellphone buzzed in his pocket. He ignored it at first but after 4 more calls he finally looked at it, 4 missed calls from Lakeshore. Matt cursed Kelly for disrupting him, he looked at Boden, "I gotta take it." Boden motioned for him to leave so he could take care of business.

"Lakeshore, may I help you?" The operator answered in a friendly manner.

"Uh, yeah, Kelly Severide's room please," Matt said anxiously waiting to get back to the scene.

She transferred him and Kelly answered, "hello?" He was very aggravated.

"Severide, what do you need? I am kinda busy," Matt said impatiently.

"Just wanted to talk, call me later," Kelly hung up the phone and Matt shoved his back in his pocket and walked back to the house.

"Casey, everything ok?" Boden asked when he saw Matt. Matt only shook his head in response and went to get a status report on their progress.

"We can see the pipe, not sure if we are close to the kid or not," Hermann said looking at his lieutenant.

"Ok, hold up for a minute," he made his way back to the end of the pipe and peered in, "ok Cruz give the pipe a tap for me." Cruz lightly tapped the pipe, "ok we are about two feet away from him, we will cut it there and see if we can pull him out." Casey said moving back to start that process. About 5 minutes later they had the pipe cut and Matt got down and reached in and could feel the little boy, "he has a pulse, it's weak but there." He grabbed the little boy's waist and pulled him towards him, he moved a little bit and with a bit more force, Matt had the little boy out and on the cot, ready to be taken to Lakeshore.

"Oh thank you! Thank you!" The mother of the boy was very thankful as she crawled into the front seat of the ambulance.

Arriving back at the station, Matt went to the locker room and turned on the shower, he wanted a nice hot shower to relax his muscles that had become sore. He grabbed a chair and sat down underneath the stream, taking a sharp breath as the hot water ran over his hand that was split open. He sat in there for about 15 minutes when Hermann came in, "Lieutenant? You ok?"

Matt shot his head up, "yea I'm good!" He watched as Hermann left and stood up and a feeling washed over that he didn't like, he took a deep breath and waited for the dizziness to subside. He took a few steps out of the shower and black spots danced across his vision. He stumbled and tripped over the lip of the stall and down he went. Hitting his head on the bench, he was unconscious in a matter of seconds.

Another fifth teen minutes passed and Hermann made his way back to the locker room to check on Matt, he walked in and heard the shower still running, "Matt, everything ok? Chows on!" Hermann called out before he walked further in and saw that Matt was lying on the floor in the nude, "Matt, you ok?" He rushed over and knelt down, realizing that Matt was unresponsive, "I NEED SOME HELP IN HERE! MATT'S HURT!" He called as he felt for a pulse and held his head.

The guys rushed in and came to a halt as they saw Matt was hurt. Shay and Dawson came running in with the necessary equipment, just as Matt was starting to stir, "Matt, don't move too much. Where do you hurt?" Dawson asked.

Matt rolled his eyes and tried to sit up, "mmm…I'm alright. Kelly, you ok?" Matt called to no one in particular.

"Matt, do you know where you are?" Shay asked concerned.

Matt looked at her with a glazed over look, "hospital. Kelly sick…" he said as he passed out again.

"He has a pretty good gash on his head, gonna need stitches. Let's get a collar on him and on the backboard and move," Dawson said as she got the vital signs.

Arriving at Lakeshore the back doors opened and she reported to the doctor, "28 year old firefighter, found unconscious on locker room floor, gash to upper right head, regained consciousness on scene and was incoherent," Dawson continued on with the vital signs and followed the cot to the trauma room. She helped transfer the limp body of Matt Casey to the bed and walked out, watching the doctors work their magic.

"Wonder what he meant about Kelly?" Shay asked as she headed to the room of Kelly Severide.

"Hey sunshine," Shay greeted Kelly.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" Kelly asked, sitting up in bed.

"We brought Matt in. Found him unconscious on the locker room floor. He thought he was here in the hospital with you. Is everything ok between you two?" Shay asked sitting down next to her best friend.

Kelly dropped his head, "my god. What have I done?"

"Kelly? What do you mean?" Shay asked very concerned.

"He was pissed at me for not wanting to help myself with this crap, he got careless," Kelly admitted.

Shay stared at him as tears began to fall from the great Kelly Severide.


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry about the long update. I've been busy working and don't always have access to a computer. Sorry this is a short chapter. Should have chapter 13 up before Tuesday! Enjoy! **** please review!**

Shay moved closer to Kelly and sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his back and then she slowly took his upper body in her arms. She rocked him back and forth and soothed him, "its ok. Matt will be fine. He's a fighter."

Kelly only shook and sobbed. Shay looked up and saw Boden and Dawson standing in the doorway and she motioned for them to come in, "Kelly? How you doing?" Boden asked crossing his arms, eyeing his young lieutenant.

Kelly looked up and tried to wipe his eyes, "my best friend is down there because of me."

"Kelly, Matt did this to himself. He woke up downstairs and was fighting so they had to sedate him, they'll wake him up in a few days. He has a pretty bad head injury that required some stitches and his hand was broken," Boden explained.

Kelly began to sob again and Boden and Dawson left the room so Shay could once again comfort him.

"It's all my fault, all my fault," Kelly wept into Shay's shoulder and sobbed. He knew that if he would've just taken the incentive to help himself then Matt wouldn't have punched the wall or forgotten to take care of himself. Shay just rocked him gently back and forth.

Dawson and Boden returned downstairs and waited for news on Matt. It had already been a long day and they were all exhausted. Station 51 were strewn out in the waiting room, waiting. Boden went to the nurses' station and attempted to find any news on Matt. No one knew anything; he went back and waited with the rest of the men.

Kelly had finally fallen asleep and Shay was able to escape and head down to see if there was any news on Matt. She walked in to find everyone still waiting, "any news?" She got head shakes across the room, "Kel finally fell asleep." She went and sat next to her partner.

They waited for about twenty more minutes until a nurse came and gave a note to Boden, he thanked her and turned to his men, "go home, no visitors allowed until tomorrow. He's sedated and on a breathing tube. He needs to heal." Boden commanded and they all shook their heads left the room to return to their homes and families.

The crews all got up and patted Boden on the shoulder or back and left to return home to their loved ones. Boden sighed and looked out the window just as it began to rain, "you ok chief?" He turned to see Shay standing there, "my family is here. I'm staying. I know there isn't much I can do but being here will help me stay sane." She sat down in the chair in front of Boden. He smiled and sat down as well, embracing Shay into a hug.

During the night both lieutenant's had no real complications, except for Severide waking up every few hours in a cold sweat because of a nightmares. They eventually gave him more pain medication so he would sleep. About five o'clock in the morning a nurse shook Boden and Shay awake; they had fallen asleep in the waiting room chairs, "excuse me, chief? I just wanted to give you an update on your two lieutenants." She smiled warmly offering the news.

Boden rubbed his eyes and stood up, "how are they?" He shrugged his shoulders while taking in a deep breath.

"Both of them are doing well, Kelly did have a rough night, nightmares. Matt is still sedated. He will be going up for another CT-Scan in a few hours," she said, "the doctor will be here shortly."

Boden smiled and thanked the nurse. He turned to Shay and he could tell that she was about ready to cry, "I need to be with him." She said as they headed to Kelly's room.


End file.
